Chateau Haut Brion - Le Clarence de Chateau Haut Brion 2021

WINE ENTHUSIAST: "Woodland fruits with a backdrop of black-pepper spices set the scene for the second-label wine of Haut-Brion. It is powerful, with some firm tannins and integrated acidity. Drink this fine wine from 2027."

JAMES SUCKLING: "This is deep for a 2021, with blackberries, walnuts, chocolate and hazelnuts. Very subtle. Medium body, with an appealingly creamy center palate. Beautiful now but will improve with age."

THE WINE ADVOCATE: "More closed and shy than La Chapelle de la Mission Haut-Brion, the 2021 Le Clarence de Haut-Brion offers up a delicate, complex bouquet with aromas of plums, spices, lead pencil, licorice and dark berries. Medium to full-bodied with a structuring core of fruit, it’s seamless and vibrant with a long, penetrating finish. Keep it over the next decade."

WEINWISSER: "70 % Merlot, 18 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 12 % Cabernet Franc. Verhaltener Beginn, Baumnuss, helles Edelholz, Rosmarin und Schattenmorelle. Am eleganten Gaumen mit weicher Textur, engmaschigem Tanningerüst, nerviger Rasse, burschikosem Körper. Im konzentrierten Finale verschlankt sich der Pessac und endet mit Weichsel, erkalteter Hagebuttentee und fein sandige Adstringenz."

DECANTER: "Dark chocolate and red cherries on the nose, so aromatic, rich and seductive. Joyful and lifted on the palate, strawberries and plums to the fore but creamy and chalky with such a sappy, agile and lively energy. Lightly framed so you get the aerial expansion of flavour but the texture that grips is chalky and mineral giving a welcome salinity and touch of tobacco and smoke that lands on the tongue. Beautifully presented, smooth and well defined, such succulence and density with no let up through the palate. Intensity, clarity and focus. An excellent second wine in 2021."

JEB DUNNUCK: "Red and black currants, smoked tobacco, iron, and spicy, almost meaty notes all emerge from the 2021 Le Clarence De Haut-Brion, a medium-bodied, pure, seamless, incredibly elegant second wine that has ripe, polished tannins and a great finish."

FALSTAFF: "Dunkles Rubingranat, violette Reflexe, zarte Randaufhellung. Feines Nougatkaramell, schwarze Kirschen, ein Hauch von Orangenzesten, Kräuterwürze. Mittlerer Körper, dezente Fruchtsüße, reife Herzkirschen, fein strukturiert, gut antrinkbar, vielseitig einsetzbar."

THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER: "Medium-bodied, floral, fresh, and forward, this ready-to-drink vibrant, soft, crisp wine finishes with a nice, mineral-driven accent that adds complexity to the sweet, lifted red fruits on the palate. Drink from 2024-2036."

LISA PERROTTI-BROWN: "Le Clarence de Haut-Brion 2021 is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It is a little shy to start, soon unfurling to give glimpses at redcurrant jelly, raspberry pie, and juicy blackberries, giving way to hints of cinnamon toast and fallen leaves. The medium-bodied palate is bright and lively, with approachable, grainy tannins and vibrant red berry flavors, finishing on a minerally note."